[Demolished] Park Deck Mitte

Across the street of the Komische Oper was a car park. Built in the 80s for the guests of the Westin Grand hotel, adjacent of a landmark protected building. Both buildings were bought by an investor and recently transformed into a new building for luxury housing and retail space. Today, there is no trace left of the car park and its rooftop.

Shortly before construction (and demolishing) works began, we decided to pay our respects to this last accessible rooftop in Berlin-Mitte (yes, hyperbole, but the tendency of publicly accessible skyline views is going against nil). The park deck was already emptied out and we had the spot to ourselves.

There is almost no memory of this place online. I tried googling it to no avail – nobody ever took pictures here. And what for? It’s just an old (but not “old in a charming way”), highly functional building without any remarkable aesthetic. And yet… isn’t it crazy how easily we can change the surface of our environment and how quickly we forget what was once there? It makes me appreciate the work of historians (of any field) a lot more to know that without these pictures, this parking lot would be gone. Even in a day in age that is so overwhelmed with media.